I count
all things but loss

The
knowledge of Christ Jesus

That I may
win Christ

Philippians 3:8

Biblical Exegesis

It is always about You!

Oct 10/23 2009 20th Friday after
Pentecost

Today’s reading from
Philippians is too good to miss. If one only had this passage and the Gospels
it would be enough. Let’s do a little exegetical study of a small portion
of the mellifluous words in this passage.

Remember what exegesis is
– to glean what the writer intended the passage to mean. These are
not mere facts! This cannot be done without reading the text in an intensely
personal way. One must consider these words to be written to him, and the moral
admonitions to be fully binding, even if all specific circumstances do not
apply to our particular lives.

The meaning of the text is only
the beginning for us. We then must apply this meaning to our own lives. Perhaps
there is something we should do, or be not doing, or perhaps in understanding
the text, as if the scales fall from our eyes, we tremble because we are so far
from perfection. Merely understanding what we should do or not do is not
enough. We must also glean from the text encouragement and method, and allow
our soul to be changed by mediation on the extreme beauty that is Jesus Christ.
We must look carefully for instructions about how we should think, and what our
attitudes and priorities should be, because as a man thinks, so he does.

Learn to read the scripture
with the expectation and firm conviction that something is going to change in
you for the better, right here, right now.

This passage
is a deep well. Let’s put our toes in. It is important to understand the
meaning of the scripture, but its application is as varied as the people who
read it. Therefore, what “hits” me may not “hit” you,
however, if you can read this passage without being touched to your very
marrow[1],
you will not have understood it in any meaningful way.

3:8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ,

There is a
lot here. I am far from perfection. I know the Saints were those who embodied
this attitude (and more than an attitude – it is a state of being –
of being totally IN Christ). This is my goal – to count ALL things but
loss except for the knowledge of Christ. Our Lord has also taught this:

He that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me.(Mat
10:37)

St Paul is
merely rephrasing our Lord’s admonition. “Mother and Father”
and “son and daughter” are “all things”. Taking St
Paul’s assertion and combining it with our Lord’s words we have an
equally true statement:

He that loveth ANYTHING more than me is not
worthy of me.

What does the Apostle value
above ALL THINGS? It is the KNOWLEDGE of Christ Jesus. He is referring here to
experiential knowledge – that which is gained by toil and fasting and
prayer and repentance. He is describing THEOSIS, when a man becomes like
Christ, by emulation and grace. It is impossible to have the “knowledge
of Christ” without become like Christ. Our religion is one of emulation.
We imitate the God-man Jesus Christ to the extent we are able, and His grace is
sufficient for us if we truly count all things as loss except Him.

St Paul uses a powerful term:
he states that he (has) suffered the loss
of all things …

that I may win Christ.

This brings
to mind the athlete (a favorite subject for the Apostle), who strives above all
others to win the contest and is victorious. Our modern view of Christianity is
very passive, but Christianity is aggressive! Nobody wins in sport by being
passive. We must go about our life “with loins girded” because we
are in a battle to the death. Can you see the Apostle’s urgency?
This begs the question: where is our urgency? If we are not as urgent, there
must be an attitude/priority problem in our life – we must be valuing
something above Christ! What is it?

“… the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”(Mat 11:12)

Please read
the rest of the passage, below.

Philippians
3:8-198Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win
Christ,9And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death;11If by any means I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead.12Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which
also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before,14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:
and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto
you.16Nevertheless, whereto we have already
attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.17Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.18(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now
tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:19Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and
whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

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(seraphim@orthodox.net)

[1]
Heb 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.”